Hut site, Cummeenduvasig, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Settlement Sites
On a south-facing slope above the Owbaun River valley in south-west Kerry, there is a circle of collapsed stone so small it could easily be dismissed as a natural scatter of rubble.
It measures just 2.2 metres in diameter, barely enough space for a single person to lie down. Yet this is a hut site, the remains of a structure built by someone who chose this particular ridge in Cummeenduvasig for reasons that time has not preserved.
What survives is a low ring of drystone walling, a technique requiring no mortar, relying instead on the careful placement of stone against stone. The wall has collapsed to a height of roughly 0.3 metres and a thickness of 0.7 metres, and two large boulders were incorporated into its fabric, one positioned to the south and one to the west. Loose stones lie scattered across the interior. Structures like this appear throughout the upland landscapes of Kerry and the wider Irish west, associated variously with seasonal pastoral activity, with booley farming where herders moved livestock to higher ground in summer months, or with much earlier settlement and use of the hills. The modest scale here suggests temporary occupation rather than a permanent dwelling, though without excavation it is impossible to say more about who built it or when.